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THE 



FIRST RECORDS 



ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION 



THEIR HISTORY 



JOHN WIIWjHDE thoenton. 




GOULIJ^^gD LINCOLN, 
no 9. 




250 COPIES PRINTED. 



CAMBRIDGE : 
ALLEN AND FAKNHAM, PRINTERS. 



PREFACE. 



Civilized nations eagerly welcome the minutest details respecting 
their primitive seats, early migrations, and settlements ; their origin, 
qualities, and institutions ; whether extorted from the secrets of philology, 
exhumed from the earth, or found in a recovered manuscript. The 
tesselated pavement of a Roman villa, the roll of Battle Abbey, the 
Doomsday Book of the Conqueror, the Charter of Runnymede, a leaf 
from Caxton's " Playe of Chesse," the Autograph of Shakspeare, are 
among the most treasured things of England. 

This tract discloses in our own National possession the twice lost 
manuscript Records of our own origin, of perhaps more pregnant interest 
to us, as a people, than is any document which England holds of her 
own primitive history. 

Now that we know of such a treasure, in possession of our National 
Government, shall it not be rescued from the hazards of time and acci- 
dent, against which it has been providentially and Avonderfully pre- 
served, by its publication in a manner fitting our National duty and 
honor ? 



THE FIRST RECORDS 



ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION 



The records of the Commercial Companies in England 
for the colonization of America constitute the Genesis 
and Exodus of our English- American history ; and the 
publication of these original documents would be a splen- 
did and invaluable service to American history, worthy 
of our National Government. 

Passing Cabot's patent of March 5, 1496, Gilbert's of 
June 11, 1578, and intermediate documents, we come to 
the incorporation April 10, 1606, of certain " adven- 
turers " for ' colonizing " that part of America commonly 
called Virginia," and extending from the thirty-fourth to 
the forty-fifth degree of latitude. They were divided 
into two companies, one of which, the London Company, 
had the southern portion of the territory. This corpora- 
tion kept a record of its transactions till its virtual sup- 
pression by proclamation, July 15, 1624. 

King James the First's darling project of a Spanish 
match for his son Charles was then on foot, and he was 
persuaded hy Gondomar, the unscrupulous but faithful 
minister of Spain, to destroy this great commercial com- 
pany, in order to conciliate the Spanish court, and secure 



the coveted marriage. 



1=:: 



6 THE FIRST RECORDS OF 

The most active of these " advonturers " was Nicholas 
Ferrar, a London merchant, associated with Sir Thomas 
and Sir Hugh Middleton, in the commerce of l)oth the 
East and \Yest Indies. Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir John 
Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Edwin Sandys, and their 
compeers were frequent guests at his table. His third 
son, Nicholas, born Feb. 23, 1592, Avas the friend of 
George Herbert, and is specially remembered in Izaak 
Walton's life of the poet. Izaak mentions two other 
names in this memoir, interestino- to New Eno-land read- 
ers. One is Dr. Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
the friend of John White of Dorchester, — illustrious 
men, — named by Hugh Peters as the two who ''' occa- 
sioned, 3'ea, founded that work" of colonizing Massachu- 
setts. So zealous was Lake in the great scheme, that he 
declared to White "he would o-o himself but for his a2:e." 
The good Bishop died May 4, 1G26, so that he must have 
intended to join the colony while at Cape Ann, under 
the heroic Governor Conant, for it was not till the Ml of 
that year that Conant removed the Colony to Salem. 

The other character referred to is Mr. Herbert Thorn- 
dike, Fellow of Trinity College, Prebendary of Westmin- 
ster, and one of the editors of the Polyglot Bi])le. His 
works on the " Church " are standard authorities. His 
brother, Mr. John Thorndike, an early settler of the Mas- 
sachusetts Colony, was one of the founders of Ipswich, 
and the ancestor of a worthy New England family. Mr. 
Thorndike died in England, and the graves of the Church 
Prebendary and his Puritan brother are side by side in 
AVestminster Abbey. 

But to return to Nicholas Ferrar, Junior ; after several 
years of travel on the continent, among the learned and 
great, he returned to England in 1618, and died Monday, 
Dec. 2, 1G37. Some years later, about the year 1654, 
materials for a memoir of this gentleman, were prepared 



ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION. / 

by his brother, Mr. John Fcrrar, Avho liad been Deputy 
Governor of the Yirirmia Company, for some three years. 
These, with materials ihmi other sources, were edited and 
pul Wished l»y the Kev. Dr. Peter Peckard of Magdalen 
Colleu'e, Cam1)ridg-e, m 1790 ; and this volume is the sole 
depository (jf much of the history of the Virginia Com- 
pany, especially while under the control of Lord South- 
am})t(m, Sir Edwhi Sandys, and Mr. Ferrar, Jr., — 1617 to 
1624, — who placed its affairs in the most prosperous con- 
dition. Nicholas Ferrar deserves our grateful remem- 
brance, and deutands our highest regard, as the very 
soul of that cohjnization scheme. The repubhcation of 
this work would open a new volume of our earlier exist- 
ence, a most valual)lc chapter in Anglo-American history, 
in its moral and social aspect, a phase, though most im- 
portant, yet most difficult to preserve, because of its 
evanescent character. It is not, cannot be, set forth in 
records and in diplomacy, — always and necessarily, more 
or less deceptive, — and its spirit is only feebly discerned 
by the most ela1)orate analysis of the wisest student. In 
this vicAv the life of Ferrar is of miparalleled interest. 
We commend it to the attention of the Virginia Historical 
Society. Ferrar was the author of all the various letters 
of histruction to the Colonial Governors and to the Col- 
ony ; of the defences against the chicaner}^ and assaults 
of Gondomar, at the council table, and in courts ; to liun 
all went for advice and information, and in him centred 
all the Company's affairs. In one of the heariiigs against 
the Compau}- at the Council Chamber the Marquis of 
Hamilton said, "that there was one letter which he 
prayed might be read over again, on which he should 
desire to make a few o])servations ; wdiich being accord- 
ingly done, Well ! said he, my Lords, w^e have spent 
many hours here, in hearmg all these letters and instruc- 
tions, and 3^et I could not help requesting to hear this 



b THE FIRST RECORDS OF 

one letter over again ; because I think that all your Lord- 
ships must agree with me that it is absolutely a master- 
piece. And indeed they are all in a high degree excel- 
lent. Truly, my Lords, we have this day lost no time at 
all. For I do assure you that if our attendance here were 
for many days, I, for my part, would willingly sit them 
out to hear so pious, so wise, and indeed politic instruc- 
tions, as these are. They are papers as admirably well 
penned as any I ever heard. And, I ])elieve, if the truth 
were known, your Lordships are all of the same opinion." 
The Earl of Pembroke said : " They all deserve the high- 
est commendation ; containing advices far more excellent 
than I could have expected to have met with in the let- 
ters of a trading company. For they abound with sound- 
ness of good matter, and profitable instruction with respect 
both to religion and policy ; and they possess uncommon 

elegance of language That these papers before us are 

the production of one =•' pen is very plainly discerniljle." 

Foreseeing that Gondomar, by means of the King, and 
the Spanish party at court, would probably ruin the Com- 
pany, and take away all their records, registers^ and in- 
structions, and all other writings of the Company, Mr. 
Ferrar, at his own cost, and at an expense of above £50, 
procured a fair copy of them, carefully collated with the 
originals, and attested upon oath by the examiners to be 
true copies. After the seizure of the original documents, 
Mr. Ferrar informed Sir Edwin Sandys, and other of his 
intimate friends, of these treasures in his possession, fur- 
nishing evidence of the late company's honorable and 
upright proceedings, disproving Gondomar's charges of 
their bad fjxitli, and intended plans against the Spanish 

* Some curious coincidences between Ferrar's manuscrii^ts and the 
cluircli classic known as Fuller's " Holy and Profane State," and 
queries Avhicli they suggest, may be found in an article in the Boston 
Evening Transcript of February 26th, 1859, 



ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION. 9 

colonies and mines. The papers were then deposited 
with Lord Sonthainpton ; but soon after, apprehensive 
for their safet}', he placed them in the custody of Sir R. 
Killigrew, who, upon his death, left them to the care of 
the Earl of Dorset, in wliose keeping Mr. John Ferrar 
supposed them to be, at the time of his writing, about 
1654. At the request of Dr. Peckard, about 1790, the 
Duke of Dorset's library was searched for these records, 
but only some detached papers of the Virginia Company 
were found, extracts from which were printed by Peckard. 
These original papers are of great interest, and are 
nowhere else to be found ; but those published seem to 
have been only a small portion of the collection. Dr. 
Peckard says : " There are still in my possession many 
original papers referring to the patent, and the proceed- 
ings of the princijial adventurers under that authority ; 
many examinations and depositions taken on oath, and 
clearly evincing the shameful practices that had been 
used against the Company. There are also many pa- 
pers of a different sort, proving the integrity and honor 
of the Company in all their proceedings ; showing 
their intentions, and projects for iron-works j their plans 
for raising and multiplying mulberry trees ; and their 
truly patriotic designs in various other articles of great 
importance : their schemes for laying out their allot- 
ments ; for experiments in order to improve and culti- 
vate their lands to the l^est account ; particularly a letter 
to Mr. Ferrar upon this subject, signed Nicholas Hyde 
[Chief Justice of the King's Bench], from the Middle Tem- 
ple, May 9, 1G22. There are also many other papers 
containing accurate registers of the persons sent over, 
male or female, the county, parish, age, and occupation of 
each, with directions for their proper accommodation." 
These ought, if possible, to be recovered, and published 
in connection with the Company's records and history. 



10 THE FIRST RECORDS OF 

Here we leave the memoirs of Ferrar, and turn to Yii- 
ginia for further information about these natal records of 
a State, — rather of a Nation. Stith, the excellent histo- 
rian of Virginia, writing in 1747, hands down to us the 
following account of them, which he had " received many 
years ago, in conversation with Col. Byrd and Sir John 
Randoli:)h." Col. Byrd's father, being in England in 1667, 
at the time of the death of the Duke of Southampton, 
purchased these records of that nobleman's executors for 
sixty guineas. Stith also states that " this copy was taken 
by the order and for the use of the Earl of Southampton, 
the Comj^jany's treasurer at that timej" but it appears, 
that not to him, but to Ferrar, belongs the credit of pre- 
serving these invaluable records. Stith sa3^s they " are a 
journal of the Company's proceedings from day to day ; 
and are written in two large folio volumes, on a kind of 
elephant pa})er, generally in a very fxir and legible hand. 
Each page is subscrDjed by Edward Colling wood, the Com- 
pany's secretary; thus. Com. Colling wood ; which is, as I 
take it, Compared, ColUngwood. Besides which there is a 
testification at the end of each volume. At the end of 
the first, under the hands of Edward Waterhome and Edward 
ColUngwood, Secretaries of the two C(jmpanics for Virginia 
and the Somcr Islands, that they had compared that with 
the original Court-book, and found it to be a true and 
perfect copy of the same, except the omission of one court 
and part of another. The second volume is signed by the 
said Secretary Collingivood, and Thomas Collet of the Middle 
Temple, Gentleman, testifying the same thing, except in 
a few immaterial points, where were wanted some original 
papers. These vohnnes oidy contain the Company's pro- 
ceedings for a little above live years, namely, from April 
28, 1619, to June 7, 1624 ; including the whole time of 
Sir Edwin Sandys's and the Earl of Southampton's admin- 
istration. However, they are not a brief and summary 



ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION. 11 

entry of the principal points and matters concliuletl npon, 
according to tlie common methods of courts, but give, at 
length, the chief speeches, reasons, and debates, that hap- 
pened in their courts during that time. And as it was a 
period of vast contest and dispute, they often recur back 
to former times and transactions, and thereby give us 
a clear idea and account of the chief matters and ^proceedings of 
the Company, almost from its first institution and foundcdionr 

Stith made but partial use of these records, for reasons 
which we give in his own words: "I once intended (as 
Bishop Burnet has done, in a very useful and satisfictory 
manner, in his History of the Reformation) to have added 
several other very curious papers and original pieces of 
record. But I perceived, to my no small surprise and 
mortification, that some of my countrymen (and those, 
too, persons of high fortune and distinction) seemed to be 
much alarmed, and to grudge that a complete history of 
their own country would run to more than one volume 
and cost them al)ove half a pistole. I was, therefore, 
obliged to restrain my hand, and only to insert these few 
most necessary instruments for fear of enhancing the 
price, to the immense charge and irreparable damage of 
such generous and public-spirited gentlemen." 

Stith, the author of this spicy sentence, was a grandson 
of William Randolph of Henrico County, whose brother 
Isham Randolph had grandsons, Thomas Jefferson and 
James Pleasants. 

The records were afterwards found among Sir John 
Randolph's papers, and, though claimed by Edmund Ran- 
dolph, they are said to have come to Congress as part of 
Jefferson's collections, and are now in the law library at 
"Washington. They are written in the style peculiar to 
official records of that period. 

The first volume licgins with April 28, 1619, "a Quar- 
ter Court held for Virginia at Sir Thomas Smith's house 



12 ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION. 

in Pliilpott Lane," and ends 8tli of May, 1622, and the 
co2:>j is attested by Ed. Waterhouse and Ed. Collingwood. 
The second vohmie, a continuation of the first, commenc- 
ing May 20, 1622, and ending April 28, 1624, is attested 
by Thomas Collet and Ed. Collingwood. 

There is also a volume of Virginia Company papers 
and records, 1621-1625, of about 160 pages, containing 
letters, proclamations, patents, in 1622, 1623 ; correspond- 
ence 1625, transactions in council and assembly, the peti- 
tion of the Company, and his Majesty's answer.* 

They are alluded to in the Preflice to the Virginia 
Statutes at Large, and Conway Robinson cites them in 
his Jurisprudence of Virginia. 

As these volumes are of National interest, reaching back 
to the Yevy foundation of the English companies for colonising 
America ; as they have escaped the chances and mishaps 
of two centuries, on either side of the Atlantic ; as they 
have not been used by our historians, lying virtually un- 
known ; and as Providence has now placed them in the 
kee23ing of our National Congress, — is it not our National 
duty to have them appropriately edited and published, tvith all 
that the Archives of England contain respecting hoth the London 
and the Plgmoidh Companies ? 

* Richai-d Randolph, Esq., of Hanover, Virginia, from whose obliging 
hand several of these particulars are obtained, informs me that there is a 
series of early manuscript volumes, in Richmond, of an important histori- 
cal character. A minute description of them is desirable. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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005 4389632 



